Since 2004, eBay has acknowledged Canadian entrepreneurs harnessing the e-commerce firm’s digital market to scale and propel their companies via its annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. As we head into a brand new 12 months, we’re wanting again at a few of the Canadian small companies that stood out on eBay’s platform in 2023.
“The winners, chosen from a record number of seller entries, showcase best-in-class examples of how the platform enables sellers to stay local and sell global, with access to 132 million buyers across 190 markets,” stated eBay Canada General Manager Garry Thaniel. “At eBay, we recognize how much small business owners pour their hearts into ensuring their businesses flourish and succeed. We partner with sellers; we don’t compete with them. Our purpose is to fuel their success and make it easy for them to move their products online. We want to empower small businesses across Canada with our tools, support and advocacy to help keep their business growing.”
Winners of the Entrepreneur of the Year awards obtain not solely the trade recognition and money prizes to reinvest of their companies, but additionally invaluable assets, together with a one-year eBay Store subscription improve, a year-long quarterly session session with an eBay Canada business improvement specialist, and knowledgeable images session.
Alongside its world-class instruments to make worldwide transport a breeze, vendor insights to customise promotions or create nice listings that work in any nation for optimized gross sales, in addition to the flexibleness to decide on the format that works for them, eBay continues to make it straightforward for Canadian small business homeowners to remain native and promote world.
Beyond their skill to leverage the facility of eBay to promote to the world, the 2023 winners showcase the breadth and depth of the revolutionary small business neighborhood and their success in bringing neighborhood, illustration, sustainability and globalization to the forefront.
Read on to satisfy 2023’s acclaimed recipients.
Micro-Multinational of the Year: ACO Repairs & Sales Solutions
After years of working in a business devoted to repairing manufacturing parts, Mississauga-based Amy Ozueh noticed a possibility to not simply restore but additionally promote elements on to prospects worldwide. Leveraging her understanding of the trade, she based ACO Repairs & Sales Solutions in 2006. Since then, this small business has grown exterior its North American roots, because it continues to develop internationally with over 20 per cent of its consumer base in international locations like Germany and Japan. “Through eBay, we’ve been able to increase our visibility seamlessly beyond borders and increase sales with European customers,” says Ozueh. “They continue to purchase our products more frequently, and ACO is quickly becoming one of their preferred vendors.”
Being acknowledged as 2023’s Micro-Multinational of the Year marks a big milestone for the business, because it additional empowers ACO in its plans to open a location in Houston, Texas. “We’re incredibly pleased with the visibility this recognition has provided to ACO,” provides Ozueh.”It has already performed an enormous function in our continued mission to attach cross-border on the bottom with our shoppers within the United States.”
Emerging E-commerce Entrepreneur of the Year: Partsterr
With a wealthy household legacy spanning over three many years within the auto elements business, Nicolas Panaritis, founding father of Partsterr Auto Parts, developed a deep ardour and curiosity for the trade from a younger age. Recognizing the complexities and particular wants that prospects expertise when searching for automotive elements, he got down to rework the panorama by digitizing the expertise past a standard brick-and-mortar retailer mannequin via e-commerce. “eBay felt like a natural place for my business to exist,” says Panaritis. “It’s clear to me that eBay prioritizes the experiences of its sellers and continues to work closely with them to help grow their businesses online. I’ve been able to leverage eBay’s technology and infrastructure for listing and selling products, and take advantage of its established customer base and marketing tools to gain exposure across all markets. As the platform continues to evolve and keep up with the latest and best practices in e-commerce, I have no doubt it remains the best space for me to help grow my business.”
Based in Montreal, Panaritis has shortly develop into one of many high auto elements sellers on eBay Canada, thus incomes his distinction as 2023’s Emerging E-commerce Entrepreneur of the Year. “My plan is to reinvest the prize money into several different areas, including additional customer service and marketing,” he says. “From the photography package to the one-year store subscription, this program will help to give my business a clearer and more personalized identity while also allowing me to continue scaling up and growing trust with our dedicated buyers.”
Sustainable Seller of the Year: JLS Distributions
In 2023, eBay launched a brand new class to the awards—Sustainable Seller of the Year—to acknowledge a vendor who has leveraged the platform in help of a extra inexperienced and sustainable e-commerce economic system. JLS Distributions, the inaugural winner of this award, is a family-owned business with a ardour for decreasing waste and selling a inexperienced economic system throughout native communities in North America. For greater than 15 years, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec husband-and-wife group Jimmy Lachance and Genevieve Gaudreault bought used home equipment and helped prospects restore their very own with elements, retaining these giant objects in working order and out of landfills. Since becoming a member of eBay in 2017, JLS Distributions has bought over 12,000 equipment elements, extending its attain throughout North America and positively impacting 1000’s of shoppers by offering in-demand merchandise to their prospects at decrease costs whereas additionally extending equipment lifespans. Furthermore, it has been capable of efficiently showcase the advantages of facilitating extra environmentally pleasant practices whereas nonetheless retaining updated with the trade.
Providing visibility for his or her small business, eBay’s market has develop into a important a part of JLS’s business mannequin; successful the first-ever Sustainable Seller of the Year award is just an added bonus. “While the prizes themselves are all extraordinary, what truly brings us the most joy is the recognition from eBay amongst all business owners that we are making an impact through our efforts and that they are here to continue to support us now and in times to come,” says Gaudreault.
2023 Entrepreneur of the Year: SlabSharks
Lastly, eBay’s Entrepreneur of the Year acknowledges an eBay vendor who greatest represents the spirit of eBay’s vendor neighborhood. 2023’s winner, SlabSharks, is a outstanding success story born out of a longstanding ardour for collectibles. Co-founder Karn Rai, a lawyer by coaching, spent years nurturing relationships and trade data at buying and selling card exhibits and expos throughout North America. In 2022, with a modest $3,000 funding, Rai and his mates—Harman Gill, Raja Dhillon, Gagan Rana and Nav Chahal—established SlabSharks, a sports activities card and buying and selling card consignment hub. Since its inception, the business has leveraged eBay far past what it might have probably imagined, supporting seven figures in gross sales in 2022 with greater than double this worth in 2023. “eBay remains the go-to spot for consumers interested in collectibles,” says Rai. “By continuously selling on the platform, SlabSharks has been able to build a dedicated following while incrementally building our brand as a whole.”
In 2023, SlabSharks opened its first workplace in Mississauga. Further propelled by eBay’s help, this quickly rising small business has even larger plans for the longer term. “As our appetite for growth continues, the prize money will help us with the acquisition of a 360-degree photography system, allowing for higher quality images of items being listed on the eBay platform,” says Rai. “The collectibles consumer is extremely observant of the images provided by a seller, so our investment will ensure that customers feel confident in the condition of items we are selling, thus hopefully resulting in higher bids.”
Above all, eBay’s Entrepreneur of the Year believes {that a} fruits of arduous work and neighborhood help made it potential to construct and elevate the corporate’s profile so shortly. “Taking a minute to pause and celebrate has been great for our team, as this recognition represents an important milestone for us as a business,” says Rai. “The excitement in our office is truly contagious, and we’re looking forward to continuing to build on the momentum we’ve gained over the past two years as we look further ahead into 2024 and beyond.”
The Power of eBay
Today, eBay connects thousands and thousands of patrons and sellers world wide to a worldwide market of 1.9 billion listings, spanning nearly each kind of product you would think about. In truth, now greater than ever, Canadian small business homeowners are leveraging the facility of eBay to promote to the world.
Small companies have powered the vast majority of gross sales on eBay for the reason that starting and throughout Canada, sellers are utilizing eBay to entry 132 million lively patrons worldwide, with a whopping 99 per cent of them exporting to a mean of 18 international locations.
eBay makes it straightforward for Canadian entrepreneurs to develop their small companies, getting every part up and operating for them to promote to a worldwide market with world-class instruments, vendor insights and adaptability to decide on the format that works for them. A latest world survey discovered that 92 per cent of sellers agreed that eBay is accessible to all, made much more highly effective by the truth that 90 per cent of sellers say eBay wins when sellers win.
By making a trusted promoting and shopping for expertise that protects customers and sellers alike over the previous three many years, eBay continues to distinguish itself from different platforms and makes use of its know-how to attach folks. Through its ongoing mission to empower entrepreneurs, join communities and create financial alternative for all, eBay seems to be ahead to supporting and seeing extra Canadian small companies succeed globally in 2024 and past.
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Source: canadianbusiness.com